June 6, 2020

Protesters singing the black national anthem in Louisville, Ky.Erik Branch for The New York Times

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Gender Reporter

“I was really frustrated to see her be erased in real time.”

— Cate Young, a Los Angeles based film and culture critic who founded #BirthdayForBreonna

On Friday, Breonna Taylor would have turned 27.

Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was killed by the police on March 13 during a late night drug investigation in Louisville, Ky. Three officers barged into her apartment, using a so-called no-knock search warrant, which allows the police to enter without warning. Her boyfriend, who said he thought someone was breaking into the apartment, shot an officer in the leg. The police ended up shooting Taylor eight times.

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To mark her birthday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Louisville at around 7 p.m. Many had been protesting all day in different parts of the city, but in the evening they gathered specifically for Taylor’s birthday. Her face, as painted by the artist Jaylin Stewart, was projected onto City Hall. The protesters sang “Happy Birthday.” They chanted “Say Her Name!” And they marched around the city for hours. There was anger and pain, but there was also hope and tender love.

Breonna’s family and friends share in some laughs and memories as they reflect on the wonderful soul Breonna was. From.....: [TK] Marnissa Battle, Nashan Sleet, Preonia Flakes, Elysia Bowman, Trina Curry, and Alena Battle.Erik Branch for The New York Times

Online, a campaign aimed to flood Instagram and Twitter with Taylor’s name using the hashtag #BirthdayForBreonna. The campaign’s other action items included signing an online petition calling for justice, donating to an online fund for Taylor’s family and sending birthday cards to Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, urging him to charge the three officers.

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Some celebrities, like Kerry Washington, Busy Philipps and Charlize Theron, joined in by sharing the hashtag and the campaign’s list of action items. By Saturday afternoon, the online fund for Taylor’s family had raised more than $5 million — far exceeding its initial goal of $500,000.

“It has just been growing and growing,” said Cate Young, a Los Angeles-based film and culture critic, who created the campaign. “People really stepped up.”

“I discovered on Instagram that some bakers had even started making cakes for her, and one greeting card company designed cards for her,” she added.

In the weeks immediately after Taylor died, her case didn’t receive much news media and political attention, falling in line with a longstanding pattern in which police brutality against black women is rendered invisible.

“I had just been following the story about police brutality and about George Floyd, and her name stopped coming up,” Young said. “I was really frustrated to see her be erased in real time.”

A mural of Taylor at the intersection of Seventh Street and Magnolia Avenue in Louisville, Ky.Erik Branch for The New York Times

Because she is immunocompromised, Young wasn’t able to participate in the protests against police brutality that are taking over cities across the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. So she decided to galvanize people online.

“I just wanted to do something,” Young said. “I was like, I’m going to drive myself insane with worry and panic if I don’t do something.”

We should be showing up for black women “in the same way that we show up for black men,” she added.

Erik Branch contributed reporting from Louisville, Ky.

Washington Mayor Fights For Control

“Black Lives Matter” is painted on the pavement of 16th Street near the White House in Washington, D.C.Carlos Vilas Delgado/EPA, via Shutterstock

After federal law enforcement agents and military troops lined up for days against protesters outside the White House, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington responded emphatically.

She had city workers paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant yellow letters down a street near the White House that is at the center of the confrontations. And she gave the new name Black Lives Matter Plaza to the area in front of Lafayette Square where federal officials used chemical spray and smoke grenades on Monday to clear protesters ahead of President Trump’s photo op at a historic church.

Trump responded by calling Bowser “incompetent” on Twitter.

The mayor met this with her usual cool shrug. “You know the thing about the pot and the kettle?” she said.

Leading Through Crisis

Timnit Gebru, senior research scientist at Google.Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times

How is technology shaping our behavior and values?

Please join us on Monday, June 8 at 1 p.m. Eastern time for a conversation between Timnit Gebru, senior research scientist at Google, and Shira Ovide, writer of On Tech newsletter at The New York Times.

The live chat is hosted by the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society in collaboration with In Her Words as part of a series with women leaders from around the world, exploring how women are leading through crisis and laying the groundwork for a stronger world.

In Her Words is written by Alisha Haridasani Gupta and edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson.

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